Dairymom's Thankful Thursday

Committee work isn't always fun but for the last few months, I've enjoyed meeting with other members of the Vaughn Presbyterian Church to plan a special celebration day for the 125th anniversary of the church.

A highlight for this week's meeting was to display  a banner in front of the church to invite the community to celebrate with us on September 28th.

                            I'm thankful for the dedicated members of the Vaughn Presbyterian Church!

Labor Day Dairy Diversion

Labor Day is always a day of labor on the dairy farm. Our dairy cows would not understand if we didn't show up at the milk barn at milking time or make sure their feed was mixed and served   in the barn on time!

Our Labor Day  holiday did begin with

a gentle rain this morning that  brought cooler temperatures and created the opportunity for a diversion of our planned silage chopping activity to vaccinating a couple of our herd bulls. 

That's how holidays on the  family dairy farm are created...

                                                                           
                                       they happen when least expected and  are  always unplanned!

Dairymom's Thankful Thursday

During the drought of 2012, feeding hay on the ground was a common scene because there was absolutely no pasture for dairy cows to graze.

Even though we're having our usual hot,dry August weather,

                                     I'm thankful for the hay we baled this week, and   for the fact
                             that our pastures and fields look lush for August in Northwest Arkansas!

Dairy Filled Labor Day

Although we'll be working everyday on the dairy  farm during the Labor Day weekend, I'm thinking of a few ways to have less labor in the kitchen!  Fortunately, Midwest Dairy  has a great assortment of recipes that are easy, nutritious and of course, use delicious dairy products.
 I can just taste Roasted Pimiento Cheese Spread on a croissant roll or as a toasted sandwich topped with a fresh garden tomato!

Roasted Pimiento Cheese Spread

Ingredients:

1 tub (8 ounces) reduced fat cream cheese,softened
1/3 cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt
1 tablespoon finely chopped onion
1 package (8 ounces) finely shredded Colby-  Montery Jack Cheddar cheese
1 package (7 ounces) 2 % milkfat finely shredded  Sharp Cheddar cheese
1/4 cup roasted red peppers in water,drained and chopped
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon chopped cilantro (optional)

Preparation:

Combine cream cheese,Greek yogurt, and onion in a medium food processor. Pulse process until blended. Add shredded cheeses to mixture. Process until well blended. Add roasted red peppers. Pulse process only until stirred into mixture. Transfer to a medium bowl. Cover and chill 1 hour to allow flavors to blend. Optional: Garnish with chopped cilantro.

Dairy Squares

               If baling hay is done best on a hot August afternoon in Arkansas, yesterday was perfect!

Most of our hay is baled into large round bales to feed our dairy and beef cows  but we always need small bales to feed our young calves as they grow and mature.  

Ryan and Cody worked all afternoon  raking,baling and hauling  these dairy squares from the field  to the barn for stacking.

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They also found that sometimes those square bales don't stay stacked!

Re-stacking dairy squares  was pretty simple with a 

little farmer muscle and his assistant with the  hay moving equipment.

So simple, in fact, that I made my way back to the house before getting put to work!

Dairymom's Thankful Thursday

For the last couple of years,we've been buying corn silage from a southwestern Missouri grain farmer who lives about 70 miles from our Arkansas dairy farm.

Since the new corn crop is being chopped now, we made a quick trip to get a sample of the silage to send to the lab for analysis. Our dairy nutritionist will use this information  to design a balanced diet  to keep our cows healthy and productive.

I'm thankful for grain farmers who provide  a nutritious food for our dairy cows !

Put Some Cheese On It!

Can you believe it's been six years since Midwest Dairy provided this car to the winner of the 'Put Some Cheese On It'  promotion?  

The car is driven every day around Southwest Missouri and Northwest Arkansas by the owners of Cooper's Cafe in Anderson, Missouri. In fact, it's been promoting cheese for  more than 100,000 miles!

We happened to be in the Anderson area tonight and stopped in to have one of the famous Cooper cheese covered burgers. Actually, just about everything on the menu includes cheese or other dairy products.

Coopers' knows how to bring a smile to the dairy farmer!